“…of thee I sing.”
Okay. Today I’m going to do something I really shouldn’t.
Today I’m going to talk about politics.
I’m going to do this the same way I do everything. I’m going to tell a couple of stories.
The first story:
This last Thursday, I did a reading and signing in Columbus. Despite the fact that I’d only scheduled it about two weeks ahead of time, about 200 people showed up. Thanks for that, by the way, it made me look good.
Whenever I do one of these, it’s really a reading interspersed with a lot of Q&A....
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message 1:
by
Jenna
(new)
Jun 05, 2012 06:24PM
Thank you for this. I voted for Barrett today because my mom is a teacher. When I find out someone supports Walker, I can't help but take it as a personal attack on my family. Crossing my fingers for some good news tonight...
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Well, I can empathize with the sick feeling. Had it all day, and now it's worse.
I'm Romanian and I'll be voting for the first time this year. I've never been into politics, never cared to learn much about what's been going on in this country out of the misguided belief that it didn't really concern me. Now that I finally get a vote, however, I think all that has changed. You've inspired me to take things more seriously and I'll be doing some research before I cast my vote. Thank you for that! (:I hope all goes well for you.
I like your conversational veto rule; we may need that when we go visit my Red State relatives. And I like your blog post very much: it IS important to do your research, and it IS important to talk about these things in a rational and civil manner (difficult though I find that sometimes!).The thing that has frustrated me most about the recall election is that 70% of Walker's campaign funding came from outside the state. This is Wisconsin's governor and Wisconsin's choice; folks from other states really should not be poking their nose in. (And of course it wasn't "folks" from other states, it was corporations and SuperPACs.) Same thing happened in California with Prop 8: a huge chunk of the ad campaigns were funded by out-of-state groups. That's a reform I'd like to see: that state races are only allowed to get funding from within the state.
And that cartoon you linked to? Brilliant.
I agree Michelle, as California resident, Prop 8 certainly hits sore spot. (Equal rights for all!) Hoping the election goes your way in Wisconsin! (I guess I could probably go look right about now....)
hey pat, that was a great blog post. i was visiting the dells a few weeks ago and i wasn't sure what was going on in your fine state's local politics. your story about the conversation veto among your friends hit the nail on the head. you can converse about most things with intelligently friends, but the second politics is brought up, you expect most to try to fight you like you insulted their mom or something. i wish we could all discuss the topic with an open mind and, god-help-us, do some research before just recycling divisive party line stereotypes. you can see from just glancing at your fb comments that is unheard of for most.
“Well, here’s the thing. I really shouldn’t talk about politics. Professionally speaking, it’s just not smart….” Well said. Entertainers, artists, and authors should avoid discussing politics in public. Inevitably, it turns off half the audience and perhaps driving them away. Fifty percent of an audience (customers) is significant in any business. However, I do appreciate your honesty. Politics is dirty on all sides of the spectrum, a zero sum game these days. Politics attracts people I wouldn't trust to walk my dead dog. :-b
